1 Chapter 1: Elis

"I, Gaap II, banish you from the demon realm. Never step foot in this realm again or you'll face the consequences" thunder rolled from the skies of the demon realm. As the roaring of thunder echoes in the walls of the courthouse, a man in his knees with handcuffs in his hands wore an expressionless face. He can't feel anything and he knows that after the revelation they will throw him onto the human realm which, for a demon is worse than execution. A demon loses his status and is thrown to the human realm. Yes, that's the kind of punishment that they bestowed upon him.

Whilst all of this is happening in the demon realm, a human girl named Elis is currently walking to her school.

As soon as she opened the door of their classroom, she's greeted by the smiles of her friends. Emily waves at her with a bright smile on her face.

"Elis!" she shouted Elis' name. Elis, as she has always done, faked a smile. After 2 years of faking a smile, she has become an expert in it. No one can see the sadness that lingers beneath her smile.

"You're wearing a cardigan again. Aren't you hot? It's almost summer you know" Madison, one of her friends, commented. Seeing Elis all wrapped up makes Madison hot. They have never seen her without a cardigan before even if they hang out on a weekend so they're wondering if she never feels hot before.

"No, in fact, I feel colder nowadays" that, of course, is a lie. She feels really hot all the time. However, if she doesn't wear a cardigan or jacket, her scars that she's trying so hard to hide will be visible to the naked eye. Beneath the dark blue cardigan that she's wearing are scars that start from her elbows that go down to her wrists. Her friends don't know that of course, and she has no plan to tell them ever.

"Are you serious? You feel colder? Maybe you need to go to the doctor. Something might be wrong with you" Julian said with a worried tone in his voice. Hearing the word 'doctor', Elis was reminded of the time that she got sent to the hospital due to poisoning.

-Flashback-

-The time when she got sent to the hospital-

The mother's crying voice echoes against the walls of the hospital. Seeing Elis' pale white face made her cry even more. Elis looks like she's on the verge of death. Her face is white as a paper, her veins started to appear, and her body temperature is as cold as ice.

The doctor ran towards them as he heard Elis' mother's cries. He quickly examined Elis. When he pulled the sleeve of the cardigan up to check her pulse, he quickly noticed the scars. He slightly turned his head to Elis' mother who is still panicking and crying. He then whispered to one of the nurses to move Elis' mother far away from the patient.

"Oh dear, what happened to you?" the doctor whispered to himself. When he lifted her shirt, he saw a big X mark placed on the right side part of her stomach.

The doctor's brows furrowed even more. What happened to this girl? Why are there so many scars on her? Was this self-harm? Or was this done by someone? Did she poison herself? So many questions appeared on the doctor's mind but instead of focusing on those questions, he focused on treating his patient first.

After treating her, the doctor moved the girl in a room. Elis was dressed by the other nurses and even the nurses were shocked to see all the scars on her body. Some of the scars and fresh and some of them looked old but what bothered them the most is the big scar on her stomach. It was deep and it looked the oldest out of all her wounds.

"Poor girl" Ashley, one of the nurses, said while sighing.

"Whatever you saw today, don't ever say anything to this girl's mother," the doctor said in a firm voice.

"But Doctor Lucas, don't you think that her mother should know about this?" Isabella, one of the nurses in the hospital.

"Isabella's right. She's her mother and she has the right to know"

"I don't think this girl wants to tell her mother about it. This is none of our business, we only need to treat our patients. Let's not get involved anymore" Lucas said once more, even firmer than before. The two nurses dare not say anything anymore. They kept quiet. Doctor Lucas covered Elis with the blanket before walking out of the room and the nurses quietly followed him.

He went to the lobby where Elis' mother was waiting. He informed her of Elis's condition but didn't say anything about her scars. As he said, the two nurses kept quiet about it either. After a few hours, Elis woke up just when Doctor Lucas was examining her. Elis's mother went home to get a change of clothes for her as she was going to stay in the hospital for a few more days.

When she opened her eyes, Elis was greeted by Doctor Lucas's serious face. He was holding a clipboard and a pen. Elis was amazed by his golden hair as it shined like the sun. His eyes were the color of the deep blue ocean. Elis stared at him intently, not saying anything.

"Are you feeling alright?" Lucas asked.

Elis wasn't able to answer but she had enough energy to nod a little. After being poisoned, her body feels numb and her throat felt dry. Her lips were chapped and she looked pale but compared to before, her complexion was much better.

"W-water" she tries to say. Doctor Lucas immediately understood what she's trying to say and handed her a glass of water. She tries to drink it all but due to her numbness, she could only take a sip.

"It's ok not to finish it"

Elis slightly tilted her head, observing the room that she's in. Lucas noticed her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You're in a hospital right now. You got poisoned" Lucas tries to explain to her.

Elis looks down, realizing what happened. She still remembers how her sister forced her to drink poison. Elis doesn't know what kind of poison her sister made her drink. But, the moment she drank it, her body felt numb and hot. It felt like her heart was about to stop. It was scary but at the same time, she was silently wishing to die. She gave up on living a long time ago and the only thing she wants is to die.

"Do you need anything else?" Lucas asked gently, trying not to scare the girl.

"Did she saw it?" Elis asked in a serious tone while looking at Doctor Lucas' eyes. Doctor Lucas was terrified of how cold Elis' eyes looked. It was almost like she was dead. Her eyes had no emotion and it looked so deep. Deep enough for someone to drown in it.

"Rest assured. I made sure that your mother was far away from you when I treated you" Doctor Lucas answered in a professional tone, trying to hide his nervousness.

Elis didn't answer and looked away, her eyes still remain emotionless. Lucas sat down at the chair beside the bed and sighed heavily.

"Doctor" Elis called out.

"What?"

Elis turned her head to his direction and looked at his eyes.

"Have you ever felt like you don't belong anywhere?"

Doctor Lucas looks at her. He wasn't able to answer her question. He was only able to return her emotionless gaze. Elis sighed like she understood his answer.

Elis faked a smile. "Never mind"

"You want to know what happened, don't you? Why is there an X mark on her stomach? Why are her wrists full of scars? Did she poison herself?"

Elis looks away before continuing. "I wasn't like this before. I used to be a very happy-go-lucky kid. I played with my friends and I was always smiling. That is until I realized something. I was an unwanted child. My own sister tries to kill me and my mother doesn't care about us. She probably went around crying right? I would give her an Oscars for that acting. She knew that my own sister put poison on my food but she just watched me as I struggle to breathe with my sister by her side" Elis says, her eyes still have no emotion.

"I started to harm myself 2 years ago when my sister first made me realize that I was useless. She slammed my head on a mirror and cursed me while I was bleeding" Elis lifted her bangs and another deep scar was seen.

"My mother saw what happened but the only thing she said was to clean the mess that we made. After slamming my head my sister ordered me to clean the pieces of the mirror and I was bleeding so hard back then"

Doctor Lucas' eyes widened at what he heard. How disgusting. How could anyone do that to a child? What were they thinking?

"After I was discharged from the hospital, we went home and that's when I first felt that I wanted to hurt myself. I went to the bathroom, carrying a knife and I carved an X mark on my stomach. It symbolizes that I'm unwanted" Elis continues.

"Why are you telling me this?" Doctor Lucas asked.

Elis looks at him in the eye before smiling. "I just felt like it"

-End of the Flashback-

"Don't worry. This is totally normal. I don't need to go to a doctor" Elis said, smiling.